8/12/06

Oh my. I have never had a day like today. My little Jakey had me the most scared I have EVER been.

Nat & Jake were running around tonight, like all toddlers do, chasing each other from the bedroom to the lounge room past the kitchen table.

Well, the next thing I heard - BANG. Jacob goes running into the kitchen table leg. Then starts screaming. 'Here we go again', I think..... Utttahh, a little different this time. I bend down to pick up Jakey & see all this blood on the floor. I thought 'great, he's smashed his mouth'. Nope. not his mouth. His head..... Now I KNOW childrens head injuries bleed, I've had lots of bleeding heads to deal with before. But this was so different. Jacobs head was SQUIRTING blood, like squirting 2 foot from his body. Like an arterial bleed. Right on his forehead, between his eyes.

Oh my Goddess did I freak.  There was more blood than I've ever seen from my own child. I put the palm of my hand on his head & screamed for my Husband. He was in the shower, & didn't hear me. I just kept thinking ' something is wrong here, very badly wrong'. I knew I had to ring an ambulance, & don't know how I managed it. With Jake in my right arm & my left hand stopping the blood - I can't even remember how I mangaged it. I think I metamorphasied an extra arm in my time of need!!! So I rang for the ambulance, & was speaking to the operator -on speaker phone -  begging for the ambulance to HURRY & save my son, & then they kept asking all these DUMB questions - I was like - GET THE AMBULANCE NOW!! I'll answer questions later..... the operator asked me if the bleeding had stopped. I said I didn't know. He asked me to remove my hand & check. I was like WHAT?.... NO WAY. (One of the rules, duh... NEVER remove the pressure from a bleed, it takes away the clot that's formed - It will bleed again) But in the end I did, as they needed to know how bad it was, & the bleeding had slowed. By then my Husband gets out of the shower, sees what's happening & very calmly, takes Jake from me so I could hang up the phone & get a cold face washer for the back of Jakeys neck. There was blood everywhere - so much on the floor & all over Jacob & poor Natalie is just standing there shocked like a stunned mullet, so I gave her a huge hug & told her that we had to take Jake to the hospital to make him all better. Poor girl was scared stiff. Me too! After being in St John Ambulance for so many years, the only other bleed like that I'd ever seen was when some guy cut his leg with a chainsaw & severed his artery.

So the ambulance arrived (We only live down the road from the ambulance station) & they checked him over then took us up to the hospital. The nurse checked him over, did all the vitals, & by then he was fine. Bleeding had slowed & he was being his usual cheeky self. Meanwhile I look like I've hurt myself as there was so much blood on me! But I didn't care, as long as Jacob was OK, I couldn't care less what I looked like. Both My Mum & Mum-in-law came up. Both within 5 minutes of each other.

& Then I broke down. 

But all seems to be fine now, he's just gone to sleep, but I doubt I will tonight. I'll be checking on him every hour or two just to make sure he's OK. We have a video camera in both Jacobs & the girls rooms, & the TV monitor is beside my side of the bed - so I'll still be able to see & hear him, but I will have to touch him to make sure he's OK. The only bad thing about being a parent is when they hurt themselves or get sick. That part of parenting I wish we didn't have to deal with.

So my advice to you dear people, is make sure you know first aid.... Would YOU have known what to do????